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Coral reef ecosystems are beautiful and vibrant underwater communities inhabited by a spectacularly diverse and abundant array of organisms essential to human needs. Reefs are severely threatened worldwide-estimates are that one-fifth of coral reefs have already been lost or severely damaged, and the rest are expected to disappear before the end of this century. The intrinsic value of coral reefs is incalculable and immense, and this technical note seeks to educate students about that value, as well as the threats-global and local-to coral reefs.

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Many companies view financial variables independently from ecological and social variables. Is it possible to hold one's organization equally accountable for financial performance and social responsibility? This field-based case is suitable for MBA and undergraduate courses or modules in sustainability and innovation, ethics, and corporate social responsibility. For REI, an outdoor gear and apparel manufacturer, the challenge lies in how to expand sustainability awareness through consensus building across the organization and with outside collaborators. As it designs a new strategic framework for the operations footprint, the company seeks to adopt a corporate strategy on product stewardship and adapt its philanthropy strategy around sustainability objectives.

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Part A of the ZETA Communities case provides the background on the history of the construction industry, the housing crisis and declining economic environment at the time the co-founders were launching the company, and the emergence of the green building movement. With Part A as context, Part B describes the three co-founders' vision for launching a net zero energy, prefabricated housing company, innovating upon a decades-old manufactured housing technology. The co-founders launched ZETA Communities at the nadir of the housing crisis and must navigate through the market and financing challenges to build a viable organization. Today, ZETA Communities manufactures its buildings out of a factory in Sacramento and provides products to the housing, education and light commercial markets.

learning objective:

The learning objective of the case is to help students understand the process of launching a new business, including product development, fundraising, and hiring. Additionally, the case illustrates how a company innovates on the stagnant, fragmented construction industry to create an entirely new approach to building. This case is unique in that the company was started during a significant economic downtown and the students are asked to consider how the co-founders used that downturn to their advantage.

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Part A of the ZETA Communities case provides the background on the history of the construction industry, the housing crisis and declining economic environment at the time the co-founders were launching the company, and the emergence of the green building movement. With Part A as context, Part B describes the three co-founders' vision for launching a net zero energy, prefabricated housing company, innovating upon a decades-old manufactured housing technology. The co-founders launched ZETA Communities at the nadir of the housing crisis and must navigate through the market and financing challenges to build a viable organization. Today, ZETA Communities manufactures its buildings out of a factory in Sacramento and provides products to the housing, education and light commercial markets.

learning objective:

The learning objective of the case is to help students understand the process of launching a new business, including product development, fundraising, and hiring. Additionally, the case illustrates how a company innovates on the stagnant, fragmented construction industry to create an entirely new approach to building. This case is unique in that the company was started during a significant economic downtown and the students are asked to consider how the co-founders used that downturn to their advantage.

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The scientific consensus on climate change's origins in human activities has begun to influence international law and corporate policies. Suitable for MBA and undergraduate students, this technical note is a compilation that replaces a three-part series of the same name (UVA-ENT-0036, -0037, and -0038)International concern over global climate change began in the late 20th century, when scientists saw a correlation among increasing atmospheric concentrations of certain gases, human activities emitting those gases, and an unusual increase in global ambient temperature readings. The scientific community was joined by international policy makers who had grown concerned about reports of climate change impacts ranging from melting polar icecaps to regional flooding, drought, and extreme-weather events. While a small number of scientists disagree, most researchers suggest that prudence requires action to reduce human contributions to atmospheric pollutants that cause the greenhouse effect.

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This note provides background on a new certification process for B Corporations that enables companies to assess, compare, and protect the sustainability practices they integrate into corporate strategy. B Corporation status explicitly acknowledges stakeholder strategies and helps companies preserve triple bottom line accountability when and if they are sold/acquired.

learning objective:

This case is intended to -inform students about emerging trends in the sustainable business space and -help students understand the new pressures on, and opportunities for, companies that pursue sustainability strategies and want to institutionalize their stakeholder approach to growth

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This brief background note provides an explanation and examples of biomimicry as an approach that provides insights into the innovative design of products and corporate strategy framing. Biomimicry uses nature's laws and successful strategies to inform commercial innovation.

learning objective:

- inform students of the growing interest in nature as a model for redesign of products and strategy. - offer concrete examples of designs using biomimicry approach.

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This technical note introduces the concepts and terms entrepreneurial innovators use in addressing sustainability. It explores the evolution of such terms as sustainable development, environmental justice, earth systems engineering, sustainable science, the Natural Step framework, industrial ecology, and bio-mimicry. It also explores how paradigms are created and replaced.

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Unlike conventional supply chains, green supply chains are designed to ensure that value creation, rather than risk and waste, accumulates at each step, from design to disposal and recovery. As a primer, this note is suitable for undergraduate, MBA, or executive students exploring corporate response to environmental degradation, rising energy and materials prices, and the growing challenges of international global supply chains. Managing complex relationships and flows of materials across companies and cultures poses a key challenge for green supply chains. But "greening" a supply chain nets many benefits.

learning objective:

• Compare and contrast a conventional and a green supply chain • Identify the benefits of a green supply chain • Identify concerns for effective management of a green supply chain • Incorporate the principles of a green supply chain into improving the sustainability of any operation or product.

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